Thursday, December 12, 2013

Review + Playlist: The Promise of Amazing

The Promise Of Amazing

by Robin Constantine

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release Date: December 31st, 2013

Wren Caswell is average. Ranked in the middle of her class at Sacred Heart, she’s not popular, but not a social misfit. Wren is the quiet, “good” girl who's always done what she's supposed to—only now in her junior year, this passive strategy is backfiring. She wants to change, but doesn’t know how.

Grayson Barrett was the king of St. Gabe’s. Star of the lacrosse team, top of his class, on a fast track to a brilliant future—until he was expelled for being a “term paper pimp.” Now Gray is in a downward spiral and needs to change, but doesn’t know how.

One fateful night their paths cross when Wren, working at her family’s Arthurian-themed catering hall, performs the Heimlich on Gray as he chokes on a cocktail weenie, saving his life literally and figuratively. What follows is the complicated, awkward, hilarious, and tender tale of two teens shedding their pasts, figuring out who they are—and falling in love.

This book promised something pretty amazing (at least to me, the Cinderella-esque premise of the sweet poor girl and bad rich boy romance never gets old), and I write this review with a relatively simple message: it delivered its promise.

But, one thing for sure, it most definitely didn't go the way I expected. I was readying myself for a sweet, fluffy tale of first love with little emotional strings attached on my part, and expecting the most complicated thing in the story to be the Arthurian-themed catering hall which Wren worked at. It went the exact opposite way. The backstory of Grayson was dark, bordering on the gritty, with many surprising nuggets of information that were thrown onto my path as we went along. The complications along the way were not only numerous, but also, extremely real troubles that made their love much more tumultuous but gratifying for me since I love me some good drama.

As for Wren, while her character arc certainly was solid, Grayson's parts of the story (the novel was in two P.O.V.s) stood out more for me, hands-down. Much of Grayson's history before he met Wren made this novel so much more than just a regular contemporary romance, his growth into a boy that Wren could be proud of was heartwarming-- it included coming to terms with his divorced parents, his friends (goodness, Luke was one hell of a character) and perhaps, some sort of closure for his multiple identities as a brain, an athlete and a criminal.

More than all of the above, at the end of this book, I chose to see it as a strange sort of discourse on modern teenage love: There's no one convenient time for falling in love. Sometimes, it just happens. It's quick, redolent of insta-love. Yet, at the same time, it's intense, gorgeous and beautifully alive.

As we watch Wren and Grayson amble into a fragile love built on rocks, we know that their ending would be a happy one. That's the solace of reading books like that.

There's always the promise of something amazing. And for me, that's more than enough.

Robin Constantine is a born and bred Jersey girl who moved down South so she could wear flip-flops year round. She spends her days dreaming up stories where love conquers all, well, eventually but not without a lot of peril, angst and the occasional kissing scene.

Her YA debut, THE PROMISE OF AMAZING, will be released in 2014 by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

The cover looks kinda iffy doesn't it. I don't think it does much justice to the complicity of the book mmhm. But then again I'm going through a cynical phase in my life so.

The character development seems really good!! I'm glad Grayson isn't like the typical rich guy because that is BORINGGGG. Wren still sounds like the cookie-cutter cinderella poor girl though.

Write longer reviews!! This isn't enough to satiate my hunger for books and book reviews :D But this is really comprehensive without revealing too many details, leaving just enough tantalising hints to make me want to pick up the book and read it.

SEL!!! I'm so glad you enjoyed reading this one (much more than I did! :D) It was really sweet, I think, and I'm glad you enjoyed it too :D (And like Alise, I love the song choices too ;) ) SO GLAD YOU'RE BACK DARLIN'!! <33

Current State of the Union

To all my fellow book-lovers:

I'm undergoing a busy time in my life which leaves little time for reviewing extensively on this blog -- but fret not, I'll be updating my reading status & continuing to share what irks/delights/moves me on Goodreads, so do find me there (if you haven't already)!

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Love Always,

Sel

A Girl Like Me

Hi I'm Sel - connoisseur of love stories, romantic and lover of green tea, weird music and words that can make me cry.
I'm 16 and dreaming big.
Life can be stunning when you choose to live it that way :-)

2013 Challenges

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I am in no way monetarily compensated or bribed for any word on this site. All books reviewed were either bought with money (from my own pocket) or provided as a review copy from publishers. Consequentially, all criticisms or praises were written in accordance to the material's perceived merit. Each review has a source which states where I obtained it from.